Pluto in Capricorn and the Asteroid that Might Hit Mars

There is a chance that a large asteroid could hit Mars on January 30, 2008. That is just four days after Pluto makes its entrance into Capricorn—and the precise day when Mars goes stationary direct while it is less than 3° from the U.S. Mars. According to the Associated Press:

A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.

"These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees.

Whether or not the asteroid actually hits Mars, its status as front page news is a synchronous harbinger of Pluto's arrival in Capricorn.

Although Mars is presently in Gemini, Capricorn is the sign of Mars' exaltation (exaltation is one of the essential planetary “dignities"). Pluto brings things to the surface, and while Pluto travels through Capricorn, we are going to see a lot of Mars through this association—along with Saturnine efforts to control and temper Mars' fiery nature. Exaltation does not mean that Mars simply gets to run wild in Capricorn. It means rather that Mars’ tendency to rashness is stabilized and better controlled in Saturn-ruled Capricorn. This sounds positive—Mars is more restrained—but much depends on who or what is doing the restraining.